Wednesday, May 17, 2006

The Producer Has Landed

I’ve been a little nervous today about the Hollywood producer. I always wonder how the plan’s going to fall into place on a social level. The central question is, “What do you have to do?” Do you have to get up at 5a.m. and march ten miles? Do you have to attend a long wedding reception? How is this going to break? It dawned on me just now that this might be the single coolest way to handle a social encounter ever. The honored guest arrives. He’s got his own transportation, hotel, people, the whole bit. All you have to do is go to a movie theater and watch a movie – his movie. That’s as hip a way to hook up with someone as there is. The thing I’m proudest of most with this, is that somewhere along the way, we became friends. Just as with my contact at the Tonight Show, the years rolled on and we crossed into the humanity zone. I just talked to Paul. He arrived safely from LA and he sounded very friendly. This is how it should be. Tonight will be fun – that’s one thing about the show biz scene. On top of everything it is supposed to be fun. I’ll introduce my wife to him and at some point I hope he tells some anecdotes about John Houston, etc…He brought up my new script that I just banged out and he sounds incredibly receptive to reading it. He said to bring it tonight and we’ll have the business meeting on Sunday. He said he’ll try and read it by then. I can’t wait for that. This script is a monster. So things are cool. Contact has been established and the plan is in place. It doesn’t sound complicated at all. I got in a few comments about the lack of promotion in case the house isn’t what it should be. There’s still time to join us at the Bagdad Theater around 7. Watch a film with Peter Jackson narrating about early Hollywood special effects. It should be cool. There are others in it as well. Do you remember my post about a legendary director who looked at my scripts and talked them over with Paul? That was John Landis, and he’s also in this. Imagine John Landis of "Animal House" and "Blues Brothers" fame, meeting with Paul about my work. Life is good.